Outrigger Travel Blog - Hawaii Weather

But Flossie didn’t materialize in the way weather forecasters had predicted. The tropical storm was downgraded to a tropical depression as it made its way across the Hawaiian Island chain, starting with Hawaii Island and moving northwest. By the time it arrived in Kauai this morning, the local paper had already printed its front page headline, “Flossie Fizzles.”

When you live in Hawaii, people don’t want to hear you complain about the weather. “Oh, cry me a river,” they say, or run a hand back and forth over a bent arm and mime playing a violin. On the flip side, when you live in Hawaii, people also don’t want to hear you talk about how spectacular the weather is. But that’s just what I’m going to do today. Because sometimes the weather report on my iPhone doesn’t come anywhere near communicating the exact nature of “Eighty degrees and sunny.”

I only saw his silhouette, backlit by the moon. He passed the house and, then, turned back. I wouldn’t be able to identify him today. We had yet to even pass the plate of home-made vegan chocolate cupcakes I’d made for dessert. I’m surprised we even heard him. “You know we’re under a tsunami warning?” the stranger said more than asked.

Everyone’s talking about these three things right now in Hawaii: One, the big swell that’s kicked off winter’s surf season. We’re talking 25- to 30-foot waves. I went to Polihale to see it. The waves were rolling in one right after another with water running up the beach in whirlpools. I was drawn to the mountain end, the start of Napali Coast and the place according to Hawaiian tradition that is the jumping off spot for spirits leaving this world.

March 2012 will be known for its rain. Rain morning, noon and night. Rain in the mountains. Rain at the beach. Rain in town. Rain in the country. Every way you slice it, rain. There were flooding, road closures, rock slides, mud slides and waterfalls I hadn't seen in years. Blessedly, every single one of the Laysan albatross chicks that I monitor survived, even without their parents, who, in March, had started leaving their chicks alone, so they could venture further out to sea and return with great gobs of the regurgitated golden nectar chicks love.